Management and activities in BOR hospital South Sudan, handed over

30 June 2008

© Peter Casaer/MSF

After two years of presence, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has handed over the hospital in Bor, in South Sudan’s Jonglei state, to the health authorities. The hospital is now fully functional, receiving thousands of patients each month. MSF has guaranteed supplies and funding for Bor Civil Hospital until the end of the year, and urges donors to secure the financial means that the facility needs to continue functioning from 2009 onward.

When MSF first assessed health care in Bor in 2005, they found a critical situation. The population of the town had begun to increase rapidly and was projected to soon exceed 10,000 people. At the same time, there was no reliable primary or secondary health care, garbage was littering the streets, latrines were lacking, and people used the Nile river for all their water needs.

“What we found at that time was a disaster in the making, with a very real risk of disease outbreaks and health emergencies,” says Sebastien Roy, operational coordinator for MSF based in Brussels. “We had to transform the ailing hospital in Bor quickly into a facility that could serve a rapidly expanding population, not only in the town but also from outlying parts of Jonglei. Together with the Ministry of Health we quickly set about rehabilitating the hospital, recruiting and training medical staff and securing the supply of basic medicines. By the end of 2006, Bor Civil Hospital was providing a broad range of secondary health care, including paediatrics, gynaecology, feeding centres and around the clock emergency surgery.”

The capacity of the hospital increased by 50 per cent, with the number of beds growing from 66 to 100. Over the course of 2007, around 55,000 people received health care in the hospital. In addition, MSF conducted a measles vaccination campaign, with UNICEF and the Ministry of Health, for almost 22,000 children in Jonglei, and a meningitis vaccination for more than 91,000 people. But without any commitment for Bor from the international community, this work was done under difficult conditions. The lack of infrastructure and stability in Bor has hampered the further development of the hospital into a referral facility for the entire population of Jonglei.

“After two years of making the hospital run properly, as an emergency medical organisation MSF is no longer the most appropriate party to run the facility. The Ministry of Health is taking full responsibility for Bor hospital now, but they require technical and financial assistance,” says Sebastien Roy. “We are making sure that they have the means for their functioning until the end of the year. And our work elsewhere in South Sudan, notably in Pibor, continues while we remain ready to assist in other parts of the country when needed.”

Over two years, MSF’s budget for its work in Bor has totalled almost 5.5 million euros. MSF will actively lobby for continued funding from international donors for Bor Civil Hospital.